The last we heard of the troubled and mystical Danny Torrance, he had just conquered the malicious Overlook Hotel, losing his father, Jack, along the way. Over thirty years later, his story will be continued via Stephen King’s sequel to The Shining, titled Doctor Sleep.

I’ve been a big Stephen King fan ever since high school. The shine has come off a bit with his recent novels, but I still read them as quickly as King can publish them. The Shining is one of my all time favorites.

The sequel’s plot? Young Danny is all grown up and uses his powers to help dying hospice patients. Apparently there are vampires too. Whatever. Don’t really care.

I’m reading “Full Dark, No Stars” and it seems up to his usual standards.

I worry about a sequel to The Shining; that’s a pretty high bar he’s set for himself. The first time I read it I had to sleep with the lights on for a week. Pity in some ways that Jack Nicholson’s line has become the iconic image for the film, because I didn’t think Kubrick captured the essence of the novel, let alone what he did to Wendy (Olive Oil? Really?)

I also read “Full Dark, No Stars,” and thought it was better than most of his new books (though it did leave me more depressed than usual), but it was enough to make me want to try the next one. Can’t figure out how I should feel about the sequel thing. I actually heard someone mention this last week, and I rolled my eyes at the crazy rumors going around, but there we go. I oppose unplanned sequels in general, and I was never dying to know how the rest of Danny’s life turned out, but the premise does seem weird enough to be a decent Stephen King novel.

I also thought Full Dark, No Stars was one of his best among his recent books. The “four novellas” format seems to work well for him, since I also really liked Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight. But I was disappointed with Under the Dome. As for this sequel, I’ve always thought The Shining could really accommodate one. I’d like to know what happened to Danny Torrance after he grew up. Hope it’s good. In the meantime, he has another big one coming out in November.

@#8: Agreed. I like his writing for the most part, but it suffers from too many digressions, pointless flashbacks, irrelevant details of characters’ backgrounds, etc. It’s like his cocaine and alcohol addiction are jumping off the page at you.

King peaked with “The Stand” and nothing since has equalled it, though he had his moments until “It,” where I stopped reading him. His very need to trade on the reputation of an early successful book is a dead give away that he’s burned out.